Syrian state TV cameraman killed

Syrian state TV cameraman killed

Haidar al-Sumudi is the 90th journalist to be killed so far in the Syrian revolution.

Sun, 23/12/2012

Image taken from the video of an explosion in the Damascus suburb on December 22.

A cameraman for Syrian state television has been gunned down outside his home in Damascus, the broadcaster reported on Saturday, blaming the attack on "terrorists", the regime's term for rebels.

"Our colleague Haidar al-Sumudi, cameraman for Syrian Arab Television, was shot dead by an armed terrorist group outside his home in Kfar Sousa in Damascus," the television said, without specifying when the attack took place.

According to state news agency SANA, Sumudi was attacked while he was on his way home from work.

Even before his death, at least 89 journalists and citizen journalists have been killed in violence in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule erupted in March last year, according to DCMF.

Other pro-government journalists targeted

On Dec 4, Naji Assaad, a retired government newspaper journalist and contributor, was killed by sniper fire in Tadamun neighbourhood of Damascus.

The killing is the second to take place in the neighbourhood following the death of Basel Tawfiq Yousef who was killed by rebel forces after being accused of supporting the regime and committing human rights violations.

Doha Centre for Media Freedom has repeated calls for regime and rebel forces to put an end to the targeting of journalists and media workers in Syria. The centre has written an open letter to the President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Moaz Al-Khatib, urging him to respect press freedom and highlighting the importance of protecting journalists.